I couldn't decide if I should title this:
Things "they" don't tell you
Things "they" misinform you about
Things "they" shouldn't tell you

So I just went with "they".... "they" as in anyone who gives any kind of tips, advice, or information on pregnancy and childbirth. I decided that there are a few things no one informs you of (or at least no one informed me of) or that they don't give all the details on. I figured I would share what I learned...

Morning sickness doesn't mean morning and it doesn't mean sick. For me "morning sickness" was evening nausea.
Cramping is not always a bad thing. I cramped the whole first trimester almost.
There is no set time for things to progress in your pregnancy. It is best to not read what you should be seeing or feeling in your body when you are pregnant. I spent a week crying (maybe more-ask Tim) because I hadn't felt Payton move yet and everything I read said I should.
Not everyone will have every symptom of pregnancy. In fact, a lot of symptoms I never experienced. I had a great pregnancy (minus exhaustion and back aches).
First time moms have no idea what they are feeling. I don't care what anyone says. If you have never had a contraction before then you may not know you are having them (or braxton hicks).
Not all labors progress slowly. I thought for sure I would have moderate to severe "period like cramps" for a few hours before having to go to the hospital.
Contractions are not period like cramps (not even x100).
I had a few light contractions and after that I thought I was being rammed into with a semi truck.
The epidural really doesn't hurt. (This from someone terrified of shots.) The IV hurt worse.
Sitting still through the epidural is not impossible. Contrary to what you hear about or see on tv. Something in your body makes you sit there without moving (at least mine did).
Further, the nurse did not hold me in position while getting the epidural. She gave me a pillow and left me alone.
The epidural doesn't always have to take forever. You could get lucky and get an amazing anesthesiologist like I got and be done in under 5 minutes- I really should have gotten that Dr's name and sent a card!
You are not any less of a woman for needing an epidural.
You can feel the pressure to push even with an epidural. As long as you know that if you don't push they are turning that lovely medicine off, you will push.
When you tear and need an episiotomy, in the moment it doesn't worry you- but the look on your husband's face may.
The epidural will wear off while they are stitching you up if you need more than one stitch. Luckily there is numbing shots for that too.
Sometimes your body won't stitch and you keep bleeding leading to a whole mess of things being put there to stop the bleeding. I will spare you the details... just know that I swear when that was all removed I lost 10 lbs! (That's what it felt like anyways.)
You may come home from the hospital with so many prescriptions that you will feel like grandma.
People do not all of a sudden gain a filter after you have had the baby. They will still pry into your personal life, just as much, if not more, than they did while you were pregnant.
Everything with raising a child and how you do it is personal choice, and the only people that should be making the decisions are you and your spouse. But it is ok to ask for advice of others.
The hormones do not go back to normal after having the baby. This includes breaking out.

And last... the one thing no one tells you...

You will be exhausted (this everyone knows)... but no matter how tired you are, you could stare at that precious little baby for hours at a time and never get sick of it. And to see them staring at you while you feed them, talk to them, change them, etc. makes the exhaustion worth it.

Our love for this little girl is indescribable!

Please click to vote, then click the owl on the left. We are falling way down!

Today is mine and Tim's 2 year anniversary! It's crazy to think how much has changed since we started dating and since getting married. Let's go back to the beginning...

6 years ago on June 16, Tim and I met up at Howie Day... this year on June 16 Payton was born.

6 years ago on June 18, we were "a couple"... this year on June 18 we were discharged from the hospital with Payton.

4 years ago on June 28-

3 years ago on June 27- I don't have a picture that I can find right now, however, we went to the Brad Paisley/Chuck Wicks concert at Darien Lake.

2 years ago on June 27-

1 year ago on June 27-

This year on June 27 (ok admittedly this isn't from TODAY... but this is what our lives revolve around..)-

Happy Anniversary to the most amazing husband I could ever ask for. I don't know where I would be without you and I can't imagine a day in my life without you. You make me the happiest I could ever be and Payton and Roscoe are lucky to have you as their daddy. I love you Tim!

Payton is one week old today. It is crazy to me how fast she came. We really thought she was in it for the long haul. Now that she is here, I already want to slow down time! Monday, Payton had her first doctor's appointment. It was just a recheck from the hospital and everything went fine. She is still at her birth weight and doing really great! I absolutely LOVE our pediatrician. There are 2 doctors there (there is a third I think once a week) which I love because that means they truly get to know their patients (like my pediatrician). The nurses and secretaries (is that what they are called?) are just amazing. They too know everyone that comes in there. The woman at the desk makes sure to talk to every single child that comes in there and knows them by name. It has amazed me since we toured the place. Also, every room has a theme to it and murals related to that theme painted on the wall. It is very cute. And- there is TONS of Disney all over the office. It is just perfect for us! Payton was a really good girl while we were there, which made me happy. After her appointment, we had to run to Babies R Us to pick up an extra bottle. The doctor assured me this was fine and so we took her in and got what we needed and left.

Payton has been very busy this week...
She currently eats 2oz every 3-4 hours, however goes longer over night because she is like her mommy and would rather sleep.
She has been trying to hold her head up since birth and has been holding it firmly for a few seconds at a time. (This makes Tim very nervous!)
She enjoys rolling over onto her side while laying down. I put her back on her back, and later find her back on her side.
She has found out that her fingers taste delicious and is always trying to get them in her mouth- even when we are trying to feed her.
She has been taking breaks in between eating to put a finger or two in her mouth.
She has gotten two baths at home. She hated the first one (most likely because she was hungry) and was pretty good for the second one.
Her favorite place to sleep is on daddy's chest/shoulder.
She loves her bouncy seat. She likes her swing, but not as much as her bouncy.
She likes to spit out her paci and try to get it back in her mouth on her own.
When we try to put the paci in her mouth, she shakes her head back and forth in excitement.
Her tongue goes in and out of her mouth like crazy. We have caught it on camera a couple times.
She also makes a face that we call Elvis lip...coincidentally, Roscoe makes Elvis lip too.
If I run my finger across her lips, she makes a pucker face. This is something we need to try and catch on camera.
She has already peed on me (in the hospital) and has pooped while each of us were changing her. She did this also in the hospital right on my bed. But it's funny the things you think are disgusting before you have a baby, you just shrug right off when it is your own.

Payton is definitely her Daddy. She looks just like him. The only things I have seen that she got from me were her big feet, her nose, and her sneezing marathons (she doesn't ever just sneeze just once). She got the pick of the gene pool and turned out too darn cute (in my totally unbiased opinion).

And of course I can't leave you without a picture...

(Expect this blog to get overloaded with pictures... we took about 100 in an hour Tuesday. We figure we paid a lot for this nice camera we are going to get our money's worth. We bought it so that we didn't have to pay someone else hundreds and hundreds of dollars for pictures. I think we are doing good so far- see last post for pics we took.)

I need to clarify something about Payton's weight, because evidently math is not everyone's strong suit (like it is mine). I posted in her birth story that Payton weighed 6lbs 8oz. I then went on to say that she was 6.5 pounds. Let me clarify...6.5 is 6 and a half pounds. One half of a pound is 8 ounces. (16 ounces in a pound, divided in half, equals 8 ounces.) So anyone who read that and said "you are crazy" or "you don't know how much your baby weighs" or just sat there and wracked your brain trying to figure it out (which is more than likely what people did rather than thinking I was the crazy one)... now you know!

Oh and to be even more precise, she was 6lbs 7.7 ounces (which got rounded up to 8 ounces) meaning that no one was correct on the poll because she was technically 6.48. Anyways... now that I gave everyone their math lesson for the day... how about some cute pictures?

Listening to Wishes (look closely at the phone you can see the castle with fireworks)

Listening to Fantasmic

Every night sorcerer radio plays all of the night time parade and show music from disney from 8-9. Tim lets her listen to it every night. He says she will definitely know the music by the time we take her to Disney! And who am I to turn down some quality Disney park music?

Today is Tim's first Father's Day! I am so excited that Payton made her arrival before today so that she is here to celebrate with him! Tim is already the best daddy Payton could ever have. I know I brag on him a lot and say how amazing he is, but he really is. She already has him wrapped around her itty bitty fingers (and has since we found out she was a girl) and he just loves her more than words could describe. I know she feels the same about him. While we were in the hospital, her nurse came in to check her blood pressure and she was screaming like a lunatic! The second Tim picked her up, she stopped. She knows Tim's voice and just loves to cuddle with him. I couldn't be more happy about this. I love to watch them together. I can't wait to see what kind of things these two will get into together when she gets older. She is, after all, Daddy's little girl, and I know all too well how that goes!

Since Father's Day and Tim's birthday are close together, Tim got some of his father's day gifts from me earlier this week. This was because 1. his birthday gifts weren't surprises and I felt bad and 2 . the one birthday gift that he wasn't there for when I bought, ended up shipping late. Below are his gifts from us. (Payton got him her own gift, but he hasn't been given that gift yet so I can't show you). She has however given him other presents.. in the form of poopy diapers. In the past 12 hours she has pooped while he was changing her diaper... and pooped through her diaper while he was holding her. She wrote him a little note on facebook saying she would not do this anymore since it was Father's Day!

Daddy diaper bag, baby socks, hat and pacifiers- all FSU

for football season

In honor of Father's day, here are some cute pictures that we have of Tim and Payton.

And we certainly don't want anyone to think that we forgot about Roscoe. We have not. He is very involved in everything and is very concerned about Payton if she cries. Some pictures of Tim and Roscoe..